Daily Queens Game — Sunday, September 27, 2026
Sunday, September 27, 2026 · 11x11 grid. A brand new puzzle, the same for everyone, resetting at midnight UTC.
About the daily Queens game
A new Queens puzzle every day at midnight UTC — free online, no sign-up. Replay unlimited past challenges from the daily archive or browse 1,800+ Queens puzzles.
How to play Queens
- The board is an N×N grid divided into N colored regions.
- Place exactly one queen (♛) in each row, each column, and each colored region.
- No two queens may touch each other — not horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
- Tap once to mark a square with an X (where a queen can't go), tap again to place a queen, and once more to clear it.
- There is always exactly one valid solution. Use logic, never guessing, to find it.
Step-by-step solution for puzzle #292
What follows is a complete solve of puzzle #292, worked the way a person works it rather than the way a computer does. It runs to 21 deductions — 11 queen placements and 10 elimination steps that narrow the board between them. Each step names the rule that forces it, so nothing below is a guess, and the hardest idea required is the pairing argument on columns.
Techniques this board needs: last square in a region, region confined to one line, region shadow, pairing argument on rows, pairing argument on columns, line confined to one region, last square in a row.
Show the full walkthrough (14 steps) — contains the solution
Step 1. Only row 11, column 1 is still open in teal, and since each colour must take a queen, that settles it. That clears row 11, column 1, the rest of the teal region and every square adjacent to it — diagonals included.
Step 2. All of the blue region's remaining squares (2 open squares) lie in row 3. Its queen therefore has to be somewhere on that row, which means no other colour may use it: 12 squares come off.
Step 3. Mint cannot leave column 11 — every one of its open squares (3 open squares) sits there. That column belongs to mint, so every square in it owned by another colour is dead: 6 squares in all.
Step 4. Wherever orange ends up among its 5 squares, the same squares fall within reach of it — 1 square in total, impossible regardless of how the colour resolves.
Step 5. Sea green is down to 3 candidates in rows 9 and 10, columns 9 and 10, and they overlap enough to cover 2 squares elsewhere. Cross those out without deciding anything about sea green itself.
The board after step 5 — 1 of 11 queens placed. Step 6. The orange region has 4 squares left, spread across rows 8–10, columns 7 and 8. You do not need to know which of them takes the queen: every one of those options attacks the same 1 square, so they can be crossed out now.
Step 7. Indigo, amber, and mint are now boxed into rows 1, 2, and 4 and nothing else. That is 3 colours needing 3 rows, so they fill those rows between them — which locks every remaining colour out and removes 11 squares at once.
Step 8. Here is the pairing argument. The red and sea green regions have no open squares outside columns 9 and 10 — 2 colours confined to 2 columns. Between them they must take one column each, in some order, so every other colour is shut out of all of them: 5 squares come off in one stroke.
Step 9. From here the board cascades. Keep alternating the region sweep and the line sweep and 4 queens fall out in order without any new idea being needed: indigo has one square left, so its queen takes row 1, column 8; amber has one square left, so its queen takes row 2, column 2; blue has one square left, so its queen takes row 3, column 4; mint has one square left, so its queen takes row 4, column 11. After each one, clear that row, that column, the rest of the colour and the ring of neighbours before looking for the next. The last of them seats the queen on row 4, column 11.
The board after step 9 — 5 of 11 queens placed. Step 10. Khaki cannot leave column 3 — every one of its open squares (3 open squares) sits there. That column belongs to khaki, so every square in it owned by another colour is dead: 3 squares in all.
Step 11. The slate region is down to one open square, at row 5, column 5. Every colour holds exactly one queen, so that square is forced. Cross out the whole of row 5 and column 5, the remaining slate squares, and the ring of neighbours around row 5, column 5.
Step 12. Orange cannot leave column 7 — every one of its open squares (2 open squares) sits there. That column belongs to orange, so every square in it owned by another colour is dead: 4 squares in all.
Step 13. Every open square left in row 6 (2 open squares) belongs to the red region. Since that row must contain a queen, red is the colour that supplies it — so red squares anywhere else on the board are out, 3 squares in all.
Step 14. From here the board cascades. Keep alternating the region sweep and the line sweep and 5 queens fall out in order without any new idea being needed: row 7 is down to one square, putting a queen on row 7, column 6; orange has one square left, so its queen takes row 9, column 7; sea green has one square left, so its queen takes row 10, column 10; red has one square left, so its queen takes row 6, column 9; khaki has one square left, so its queen takes row 8, column 3. After each one, clear that row, that column, the rest of the colour and the ring of neighbours before looking for the next. The last of them seats the queen on row 8, column 3.
The board after step 14 — 11 of 11 queens placed.
That completes the board: 11 queens seated, one in every row, one in every column and one in every colour, with no two of them touching. Notice that nothing in the sequence above required a guess — each placement followed from an elimination already on the grid, which is what “single solution, solvable by logic” actually means in practice.
About 11x11 Queens puzzle #292
This is puzzle number 292 in the 11x11 collection, rated hard. The grid holds 121 squares split between eleven colored regions, and a finished board carries eleven queens — one in every row, one in every column, one in every color, and never two of them touching, diagonals included.
There is exactly one way to finish #292, and it has been verified. More importantly, you can reach it without ever gambling: at every stage some square is provably right or provably wrong. Boards differ only in how deep you must dig before that proof appears, and the geometry of these eleven regions is what sets the depth.
How the colors divide this board
From smallest to largest, the regions on puzzle #292 are: teal (1 square), blue (2 squares), mint (4 squares), orange (5 squares), sea green (8 squares), indigo (10 squares), amber (11 squares), red (15 squares), khaki (16 squares), slate (21 squares), pale yellow (28 squares). An even split would hand every color 11 squares, so the teal region is running 10 squares under that average while the pale yellow region is the roomiest area on the grid with 28 squares.
One queen per color, regardless of acreage: that is what turns this uneven split into a solving order. Teal is working with 1 square while pale yellow has 28 to spare, a gap of 27. Attack the cramped end and the roomy regions tend to resolve themselves.
Shape matters as much as size. The blue region is the most compact color here, filling 100% of the 1×2 box that encloses it, while slate is the most scattered at 38% of its 7×8 box. Compact regions are easy to eliminate around; straggling ones reach into more rows and columns and tend to stay unresolved until late.
Region by region
Here is the full footprint of every color on puzzle #292, smallest first. Reading these spans before you place anything is the quickest way to see which parts of the grid are genuinely contested.
Teal covers 1 square, spanning 1 row and 1 column (rows 11–11, columns 1–1). It never leaves row 11, so its queen is locked to that row.
Blue occupies 2 squares within rows 3–3, columns 3–4. It never leaves row 3, so its queen is locked to that row.
Mint: 4 squares across rows 1–4, columns 11–11. It sits wholly inside column 11, so its queen must be in that column.
Orange covers 5 squares, spanning 3 rows and 3 columns (rows 8–10, columns 7–9).
Sea green occupies 8 squares within rows 9–11, columns 9–11.
Indigo: 10 squares across rows 1–4, columns 6–10.
Amber covers 11 squares, spanning 3 rows and 6 columns (rows 1–3, columns 1–6).
Red occupies 15 squares within rows 3–8, columns 8–11.
Khaki: 16 squares across rows 5–11, columns 1–4.
Slate covers 21 squares, spanning 7 rows and 8 columns (rows 1–7, columns 1–8).
Pale yellow occupies 28 squares within rows 4–11, columns 4–8.
Where to start on this board
Open on the tightest color. Here that is teal, confined to 1 square between rows 11 and 11 and columns 1 and 1. Its queen has nowhere else to go, which means those 1 row and 1 column carry more constraint than anywhere else on #292.
Because teal never leaves row 11, its queen must be in that row — and that instantly settles row 11 for everyone else. Sweep along it and X out every square that is not teal. Then look at which colors just lost ground: on a grid this size that one observation usually forces a second region within a move or two.
Work outward to the other flat regions next. Blue is no more than two rows tall, so its queen is confined to a narrow band. When two flat regions overlap the same pair of rows, those rows are spoken for and every other color is locked out of both — the single most productive pattern in the game, and it is live on this board.
The tightest lines on puzzle #292
A quick way to find the next move is to count how many different colors touch each line. On this board, rows 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are the narrowest, touched by only 4 colors. Columns 2, 5, 10 and 11 are the tightest columns, with 3 colors.
Those lines matter because a row touched by few colors gives its queen away sooner. If a row meets only 4 colors, then one of those regions has to own it, and every other region is competing for the remaining 10 rows. By contrast row 3 meets 6 colors — the most crowded line here, and the one least likely to resolve early. Spend your attention accordingly.
Working through the middle game
After the first few queens the puzzle becomes bookkeeping. A placed queen wipes its row, its column and every square it touches — as many as eight neighbours — so the space collapses quickly. Record those eliminations on the board instead of carrying them in your head, and the next forced move tends to announce itself.
With eleven queens to seat and eleven regions competing over 121 squares, keep two questions in rotation. Does any region now have exactly one open square left? That queen is forced. Does any row or column now have exactly one open square left? That queen is forced too. Alternating between the region view and the row-and-column view is what keeps a solve moving, and it is the clearest difference between players who finish 11x11 boards quickly and players who stall halfway.
A placement without a reason is a guess. Because this board has exactly one solution, a guess that happens to be wrong will not announce itself for several moves — and unwinding it is slower than simply finishing the eliminations first.
Why puzzle #292 is rated hard
The rating reflects how much the board concedes up front. Puzzle #292 has four regions confined to a single row or column, its smallest color holds 1 square, its tightest row meets just 4 colors, and the gap between its largest and smallest regions is 27 squares. Flat, lopsided boards open quickly; even, sprawling ones make you earn the first placement.
Rating is a measure of chain length, not of chance. With one guaranteed solution and no guessing required, the only thing that changes across the collection is how many eliminations you must link together before a queen is provably forced.
Stuck on #292 despite the hard rating? The odds strongly favour a bookkeeping error over a hard chain of logic. Re-check each placed queen for its complete set of eliminations, paying particular attention to the four diagonal squares — those are the ones that get overlooked, and one of them is usually sitting on the answer.
Techniques that work well at 11x11
At 11x11 you are managing 121 squares, and holding the whole board in your head will not work. Split it into quadrants and solve locally. Most useful deductions on a grid this large are regional — a color pinched between two placed queens, or a band of rows that two regions must share. Trust the marks on the board over your memory.
Whatever the grid size, the pairing rule is the technique to internalise. When a pair of regions is boxed into the same pair of rows, they split those rows between them and nobody else may enter — and the same holds for columns, or for any n regions confined to n lines. Look for an instance of it around column 2 on this board.
As a sanity check rather than a spoiler: the finished solution to #292 puts 3 queens on the outer border and 8 queens in the interior, 1 of them in an actual corner. If your part-finished grid has queens bunched into one area while whole stretches sit empty, something probably went wrong a few moves back.
Frequently asked questions
How hard is 11x11 Queens puzzle #292?
Puzzle #292 is rated hard. Its smallest color region holds 1 square, its tightest row is touched by 4 colors, and four of its regions are confined to a single row or column, which gives you a forced move early.
Does 11x11 puzzle #292 have only one solution?
Yes. Every puzzle in the 11x11 collection, including #292, has been verified to have exactly one valid arrangement of eleven queens, and it can always be reached by logic alone — no guessing or backtracking needed.
Where should I place my first queen on puzzle #292?
Start with the teal region — the most constrained color on this board, with 1 square spanning rows 11–11 and columns 1–1. Narrowing the smallest region first removes the most squares elsewhere on the grid.
What makes the daily Queens game special
The daily Queens game challenge is one carefully chosen puzzle that is the same for every player around the world. A new board goes live every day at midnight UTC and stays as the day's official puzzle until the next reset. Because everyone is solving the identical grid, the daily becomes a shared experience: you can compare how you approached it with friends, talk through the tricky deduction in the middle, or simply enjoy the quiet satisfaction of knowing you cracked the same board as solvers everywhere else.
Like every puzzle on the site, the daily Queens game online is completely free, needs no sign-up and runs instantly in your browser so you can play Queens online in seconds. It is designed to be a perfect bite-sized brain exercise — long enough to feel earned, short enough to fit into a coffee break. Solving it keeps your daily streak alive, and the streak is a gentle nudge to come back tomorrow and keep the logical part of your mind warmed up.
How today's puzzle is chosen
Each day's board is drawn from our larger library of verified puzzles, so the daily inherits the same cast-iron guarantee as the rest of the site: it has exactly one solution and that solution is always reachable by logic alone, never by guessing. The grid size and the specific puzzle rotate from day to day, which keeps the routine varied — some days you will face a brisk smaller board, other days a meatier grid that rewards a slower, more methodical solve.
Because the selection is deterministic and tied to the date, the puzzle you see today is exactly the puzzle every other player sees today, and it is exactly the puzzle that will sit at this date forever in the archive. There is no randomness between players and no way to refresh into an easier board — the challenge is fixed, fair and shared, which is precisely what makes comparing solves with other people meaningful.
Replay the full daily archive
Missing a day is never a problem here. Every past daily challenge is preserved in the archive, so you can step back to any previous date and play that day's board exactly as it appeared. This is something the original LinkedIn-style daily does not let you do, and it turns the daily from a one-shot novelty into a deep, replayable collection you can binge whenever you like.
The archive is also a great way to practice. If today's grid size suits you, browse backward to find more boards of the same shape, or work through the history in order to feel how the puzzles vary over time. You can move directly between consecutive days using the previous and next links, jump to any date from the archive list, or branch out into the full puzzle library whenever you want even more to solve.
A simple daily solving routine
A reliable routine makes the daily quick and stress-free. Begin by reading the colors: find the smallest or most awkwardly shaped region, because a cramped region usually forces its queen into one of very few squares. Then sweep the rows and columns for any line that already has only a single open cell, since a queen must go there. Place those forced queens first and let them do the heavy lifting.
After every placement, immediately mark X's on the squares that queen rules out — the rest of its row, column and region, plus every neighboring square it touches. These marks keep the board honest and constantly expose the next forced move. When easy moves run out, hunt for pairs of regions confined to the same rows or columns; identifying those locked lines is what breaks open the harder daily boards. Work in calm passes, trust the logic, and the final queen will click into place.
More ways to keep playing
If one puzzle a day is not enough, the Queens game online keeps you covered. Dive into the archive to replay history, or open the full library of more than 1,800 puzzles across six grid sizes, from quick 7x7 boards to demanding 12x12 grids. Every one of them follows the same friendly promise: one queen per row, one per column, one per color region, none of them touching, and a single solution you can always reach by reasoning rather than luck.
However you choose to play, the daily challenge is a great anchor for the habit. Solve it each day to protect your streak, use the archive to catch up on anything you missed, and lean on the wider library whenever you want to push your skills further. It is a free, friendly, guess-free logic puzzle that is always ready when you want to think.